Category: Software

MUMBAI: Television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) and Interactive entertainment company Ludia have launched ‘The Price Is Right Slots‘ game for the Facebook platform.

Players worldwide can experience an original and interactive free slot machine game based on the longest-running game show in television history.

Ludia founder, CEO Alex Thabet said, “The Price Is Right Slots on Facebook is the first slot machine game for Ludia. It is very exciting to tap into this growing market with such a strong and popular brand like The Price Is Right. The Price Is Right Slots Facebook game is a well-designed, free and simple to use game, making it accessible to a wide audience and very fun to play.”

FremantleMedia Enterprises senior manager of interactive and mobile for licensor Nicholas Dale said, “The Price is Right Slots on Facebook brings an entirely fresh and original experience to players by capturing the beloved essence of the show in a completely innovative way. Ludia has crafted a visually stunning and compelling game that holds a broad appeal beyond the shows’ existing fan base.”

Players start off a game in the lobby, which introduces the unique slot machines based on the famous and popular pricing games such as Cliff Hangers, Plinko, 3 Strikes, and more. The first unlocked machine is the Cliff Hangers’, which features familiar elements from the game such as goats, flowers, mountains, and the classic yodeling mountain climber.

Players then proceed to spin, spin, spin and collect chips as
the game goes on, hoping to eventually spin the Big Wheel to multiply rewards or win the Jackpot! Players can also win special tokens that lead them to Contestant’s Row or pricing games designed after the slot machine’s theme for bonus rewards.

The Price Is Right Slots Social Game also features:
– The ability to interact with friends on Facebook: players can send and receive chips to and from their friends for some extra free spins – Option to ‘Auto Spin’ or ‘Max Bet’ to maximize chances of having a ‘Big Win’ – Option to select lines and bets.

MUMBAI: US kids broadcaster Cartoon Network will soon begin streaming its on–air content live across multiple platforms, including online at CartoonNetwork.com and for mobile viewers on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.

Presented as part of Cartoon Network‘s advertising Upfront in Los Angeles, the announcement further expands the network‘s ‘TV Everywhere‘ strategy to provide content for viewers on all screens.

Turner Broadcasting‘s Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media (AYAKM) president, COO Stuart Snyder said, “It is our commitment to the TV Everywhere strategy to let our audiences enjoy our shows whenever and wherever they want. Soon, viewers will be able to catch Cartoon Network anywhere and everywhere–whether they are in front of their television or even at the airport waiting for a flight, we will be available for viewers to experience live seamlessly.”

TV Everywhere is an industry–wide initiative that gives subscribers to cable, satellite and telco video services access to more of their favourite full–length shows, available day after air, across multiple platforms (TV VOD, web, tablets and mobile devices) with a high–quality experience at no additional cost.

MUMBAI: Casbaa will organise Digital Matters summit in Singapore from 22-23 May.

The aim is to addresses the critical issues of content
monetisation and production in the digital age. As technological innovation continues to change lives, the digital discussion will become more detailed and wide ranging.

Topics of Digital Matters will include:

– App, app and away: Synchronising apps with other existing platforms
– Twittering on: Social media success factors
– Digital advertising: Increasing engagement and connectivity with consumers
– Going mobile: Aligning developments in mobile technology with digital content
– Gaming: All play and no work? How gaming monetises digital content
and the lessons learnt
– Read all about it: Publishers adapting to and monetising digital content
– Financing options for the music and entertainment industry: The long
and winding road
– Who is cloning who? What the west can learn from China’s digital revolution

The speakers will include YouTube global head of music, games and platforms Chris Maxcy, Endemol Worldwide Brands director Asia Gerald Smith and Social@Ogilvy Asia Pacific director Thomas Crampton Digital Matters 2012 is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

NEW DELHI:Even as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government has complained at not being consulted on digitisation, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has said digitisation would be beneficial to the cable operators.

Speaking to the media in London, Soni said all decisions would be taken in consultation with the stakeholders. “Firstly I think those (critics) who said this are not fully aware of the discussions and arrangements, which have been made by us as a Ministry and also the guidelines which were initially announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Now you know that in 2002-2003 this was undertaken as CAS, there was resistance because most of the local cable operators thought that they would be out of job and they are estimated to be 40 to 60,000 in number,” Soni said.

“This time around even though Trai has suggested a complete digitalisation by 2013, the ministry felt we needed at least more time for talking as it is very important we talk to all stakeholders,” she added.

Soni further said that the cable operators have been pressing for digitisation as they sense stiff competition from direct to home (DTH) network providers.

She said the local cable operators have all in writing given their commitment to this. It is at their request that the government started moving in this direction. The cable operators today feel threatened by the DTH operators as one million DTH consumers are being created every month.

The digitisation of TV signals would offer a wider choice of channels to the consumers along with high quality viewing. Also, after digitisation, there would be no prime band.

While the multi-service operators (MSOs) and the local cable operators are racing against time to complete the technical requirements to meet the deadline, the remarks by a Minister in the West Bengal Government may create problems in Kolkata which along with other metros is to be digitised by 30 June.

The controversy arose when Firhad Hakim ‘Bobby‘, the Urban Development Minister and a close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, said: “We were not consulted on this issue. If Trai or other agencies had discussed it with the erstwhile CPM government, we are not responsible for that.”

Meanwhile, Banerjee has stirred a hornet’s nest by advising people in the state not to see news channels and instead to see channels like Star Jalsha, Tara, and Channel 10 which offer music and entertainment.

MUMBAI: Flushed with funds from Saudi prince Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Microblogging site Twitter is on a buying spree. The company has made its third successful acquisition this year as it bought out social media analytics company Hotspots.io.

The financial details of the deal were not revealed.

The company had last month acquired mobile blogging start-up Posterous, while Internet security firm Dasient was bought in January.

Hotspots said its employees have joined Twitter‘s revenue engineering team effective 16 April and the focus will be on developing analytics tools for Twitter‘s advertising and publishing partners.

“We founded Hotspots.io with the vision of helping companies and individuals maximize their social media ROI through actionable and accessible analytics, and we‘re thrilled to be able to continue that work on a much larger scale at Twitter,” the company said in a statement.

In December last year, Abdul Aziz Al Saud had invested $300 million in Twitter through his investment firm Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) valuing the company at $8.4 billion at the time.

The San Francisco based company with over 140 million users had an estimated revenue of $140 million in 2010.

MUMBAI: Global leader in digital cinema Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. will acquire leading entertainment distributor New Video Group, Inc. (New Video), the largest worldwide digital aggregator of independent content and leading distributor of quality entertainment.

The acquisition of New Video will cost Cinedigm an upfront consideration of $14 million plus additional earn-out potential of up to $6 million over three years tied to the future financial results of the Cinedigm Entertainment Group.

The upfront consideration will be paid with $10 million of cash from Cinedigm‘s balance sheet and $4 million of Cinedigm stock issued at the trailing 10 day volume weighted average price.

The acquisition is expected to close by 20 April.

Said Cinedigm Chairman and CEO Chris McGurk, “Cinedigm is now a fully integrated distributor of independent films and specialty content. Over the past year, we have analyzed many companies in the digital distribution space for home and mobile entertainment and determined that New Video is the best partner for us.”

Cinedigm‘s acquisition of New Video will create a new full service end-to-end digital releasing studio that will enable the company to acquire and distribute independent films and specialty content both theatrically and through digital, mobile and home media platforms.

This acquisition builds upon the strategic acquisition and distribution partnership for independent films formed in January between Cinedigm and New Video. Already, the joint venture has acquired two award-winning films at Sundance and SXSW, The Invisible War and Citadel, which are planned for release in June and September respectively and today also announced the acquisition of a third highly regarded independent film, In Our Nature.

Along with this acquisition, Cinedigm has also announced an underwritten public equity offering of common stock with B. Riley & Co., LLC acting as sole book-running manager and Merriman Capital acting as co-manager of the offering.

MUMBAI: Ozone Media, India’s leading online ad network, have forayed into mobile advertising to provide 360 degree solutions to brands in the mobile space including development of content and support with the mobile ad-network on performance driven campaigns.

Ozone Media has announced the launch with a deal with IPL new media rights holder Times Internet as their exclusive sales partners for IPL 2012 WAP, Android and Blackberry Applications.

“We are excited to partner with Ozone Media for our exclusive IPL 5 mobile channel inventory with a projected audience of 4 million unique audiences totaling to 80 million impressions. We needed a robust partner to channel our Mobile inventory sales. Our satisfactory association with Ozone Media on their display ad network has made them our first choice for our mobile ad inventory,” Times Internet Limited director Upen Roop Rai said.

Ozone has been in an expansion mode in the past few months roping in premium publishers and attracting multi-million dollar accounts.

“Mobile advertising is expected to grow seven fold in the next five years. It is a lucrative opportunity and a natural progression for us. We endeavor to repeat the success of our display ad network in the mobile space as well and be the number one choice for advertisers. With an inventory pool of 40 million unique audience spread across premium publishers and our stellar relationships with publishers, this channel will be our next inflection point,” said Ozone Media CEO and founder Kiran Gopinath.

Mobile advertising currently accounts for a small share of the market, at Rs 1 billion 2011 but is expected to grow significantly over the coming years to an estimated Rs 7.6 billion in 2016, according to Ficci-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment industry report 2012.

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has collaborated with Google to market android devices for the next two years in India.

The telecom service provider will push the android mobile operating system and Google Mobile Services in order to promote the usage of Android devices in the country.

Reliance Communciations has committed to devote dedicated resources to accelerate the delivery of superior services, content and applications for android device users. It will create data plans and services specifically targeted to promote android devices on its network. This collaboration will ensure that the data plan is optimised for usage with android devices, the company said.

The services offered will help create a distinctive and enhanced experience for existing customers on its network using android devices along with the promotion of at least one 3G data plan. R Comm will offer a free 1GB usage per month 3G plan to all Android device users. Reliance also plans to introduce expert customer care, carrier billing, exclusive apps and content in addition to the dedicated Android experience zone at Reliance retail outlets across the country.

RComm group head – brand and marketing Sanjay Behl said, “In line with the rapid growth of Smartphones in the country, Reliance has collaborated with Google to catapult the change by providing compelling new experience to device users in terms of speed, coverage and app ecosystem across segments. Our collaboration with Google is set to bring in many novelties and unique features for device users on our superior network, complementing the innovation of Android powered services and devices.”

The marketing activities will include ATL and BTL activities, developing co-branded mobile applications for Android Smartphones and marketing campaigns promoting the Google Mobile Services. Reliance Communications shall continue to work on Android launches and promotional campaigns going forward in the next 2 years.

RComm has also introduced the Reliance – Android ‘Blue Bot’ advertisement campaign across various platforms. The campaign showcases the Green Android Bot changing its colour to become the ‘Reliance Blue Bot’ symbolising the partnership as ‘Be Blue, it’s Simply Better’.

BANGALORE: US headquartered retail major Wal-Mart Stores‘ (Wal-Mart) global e-commerce unit @WalmartLabs has been building its India operations with a focus on social and digital technology.

@WalmartLabs creates platforms and products around social and mobile commerce to support Walmart’s global strategy of anytime, anywhere access where millions of customers can discover, research and shop through mobile devices, online or at physical stores @WalmartLabs has moved into a 50,000 square foot 300-400 seater capacity facility in Bangalore. It plans to hire an additional 100 people to create a next-generation e-commerce platform, to bring the strength of its India operations to 200.

“At Walmart, we are committed to building the technologies required to power e-commerce for consumers today and into the future,” said Walmart Global e-Commerce Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Jeremy King. “In the past few months, @WalmartLabs India has attracted best-of-class talent into the group. As we expand our operations, we look forward to adding to this base to create a team whose focus is to build products that matter to millions of customers around the globe.”

Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at over 9,700 retail units under 69 different banners in 28 countries. With fiscal year 2011 sales of $419 billion, Wal-Mart employs 2.1 million associates worldwide.

MUMBAI: US streaming platform Roku has announced the official launch of its products in Canada. Two Roku streaming player models – the Roku XD and the Roku 2 XS – are available for purchase in Canada. These small set-­top boxes (STBs) use the Internet to stream entertainment to the TV instantly.

At launch in Canada, Roku features more than 100 entertainment channels including movies and TV shows from Netflix and Crackle; live and on-­-demand sports from the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball; music from Rdio and TuneIn Radio; photos and videos from Facebook and Flickr; news and weather from the Wall Street Journal and CNBC plus casual games like ‘Angry Birds‘, ‘Wheel of Fortune‘ and ‘Jeopardy‘.

Roku expects to broaden its channel selection in Canada at a pace similar to its growth in the US, now at more than 450 channels.

Roku VP global marketing Chuck Seiber said, “We have a simple formula for our best-­-selling streaming players: provide access to a ton of entertainment at a low price, while maintaining a best-­-in-­-class streaming experience. We’ve set the same high bar for ourselves with the launch of our players today in Canada.”

The Roku 2 XD Streaming Player offers value for streaming video and music directly to a TV. The Roku 2 XD connects to the Internet instantly via built-in WiFi and supports up to 1080p high-definition video. The Roku 2 XS is the top-of-the-line Roku streaming player.

In addition to the features of the Roku 2 XD, the Roku 2 XS comes paired with an enhanced remote with motion control for playing games like ‘Angry Birds.‘ It also features an Ethernet port and a USB port for playing music, videos and photos off of any USB drive.